The Dark Merchant Prince
by The Poarter
Summary: "You should have expected this after what you put Luffy through. You should have been more responsible!" "I only wanted to make him strong." "You succeeded. Now we're reaping the "benefits" of your irresponsibility. What were you thinking putting him with Dadan and Ace. He's not one of your coloring books Garp. You don't get to fill him with your favorite colors."


**The Dark Merchant Prince**

_**Everything you can possible want is out there waiting, if you can reach out and take it. Take everything; surrender nothing for the sea only respects strength**_

**Prologue:**

Goa wasn't such a bad place to live for your average citizen. Sure the government was neck deep in corruption and only protected the interests of the rich. But hey everything was fine and dandy if you stayed out of the nobles way. And the city itself wasn't such a bad place to live, even though it was bordered by a massive junkyard called Grey Terminal. But that only made people enjoy the beauty of the city more.

Sure bandits regularly raided the surrounding areas but it wasn't as bad as pirates who mostly kept away. So long as you gave the mountain bandits whatever they wanted you were fine. So all in all the life of the average citizen wasn't so bad.

Too bad Luffy isn't your average citizen. He didn't have a loving family. Luffy didn't have any friends. At least any who could understand him. But most of all he didn't have a childhood. Left for dead in Mt. Colubo, Luffy was basically left for dead. No one cared if he died. No one cared if he somehow disappeared.

And that would break a man, more so for a child. Having no one, being alone and scared was the very anthesis of being human. Without a community to aid them a single human's chances of survival were slim. For a child like Luffy that mentality was even greater. Slowly his mind had begun cracking.

The chinks begun the day he met Ace.

"Hey my name's Luffy. Do you want to be my friend?" questioned Luffy as he introduced himself to Ace.

At the age of seven he was deeply looking for any place to belong or someone to comfort him. In this case he believed that it would the ten year old boy he had recently met. Or at the very least it be, what was that word Makino said? Ac … Acq… Acquaintance. That's right maybe Ace could be his Acquaintance.

Hoping over the rocks Luffy continued to follow the boy, not caring or noticing his brooding. He would pay for his mistake quite severely. Afterall hope is poisonous. And it will the poison that will kill him so to speak.

Without a word the ten year-old tapped the bridge that Luffy was currently on causing it to snap instantly. The wooden boards broke away as the two piers of the bridge brought their respective halves to themselves. In the end Luffy was unlucky enough to not grab onto any part of the bridge. The result was Luffy falling quickly to the valley between the two cliffs.

It was very fortunate the Luffy was made up of rubber, otherwise the impact to the ground would have killed him right there.

The rocks smashed against his skin fracturing several of his bones. His face was riddled with cuts from several of the more jagged pieces only amplified by the dust which managed to spray itself onto his eyes blinding him with pain both figuratively and literally. It wasn't the end though. By some unlucky coincidence, Luffy had managed to land in a river which dragged him away with the current.

The water splashed against his skin, weakening him greatly. Every part of his body felt ten time heavier than it ever did before. But it wasn't the end of it. The fast flowing rapids were dangerously fast, nauseating him from the movement. Luffy would have vomited right there if it wasn't for the fact that his body was colliding with the surrounding boulders at astronimicals speeds. His organs were being pulverized. The only saving grace he had was his rubber body which negated most of the damage. Even so he felt ever miniscular detail of it.

The experience would definitely traumatize him for years to come.

But in the end it didn't matter. He wasn't going to let this continue. No matter how bad the experience was. Luffy knew he had to get out of the water soon or there would be no chance that he would survive to see another day.

I screamed for help, pleaded for it to end. But no mercy came. By being blind the pain Luffy was experience only magnified.

He had to get out.

He had to get out.

Had to get out.

Get out.

Out.

Even though the sand, dust and wet mud were blinding his eyes Luffy managed to get one glance at his surroundings. His shut them once the burning feeling intensified. Nevertheless that moment was enough as he spotted a meander. Using all his remaining strength, which was diminishing my the second, Luffy grabbed onto the edge of the meander. Holding onto for dear life, Luffy slowly pulled himself over the edge.

For a seven year old boy it took enormous willpower to even grab on to the edge while opposing the fast following current. But Luffy did more than that. Hand by hand, feet by feet, meter by meter Luffy quickly pulled himself out of the rapid currents.

It was getting harder and easier at the same time. Harder because his energy was diminishing for every single movement he took up that slippery band. Easier as the water that was once pulling himself out of diminish in power. The force placed on him reduced exponentially until finally Luffy was free.

Crawling out of the bank, against all odds, Luffy lay down on the wet sand hoping to catch his strength.

It was a miracle in itself. Rivers led to the ocean and thus would have the same effect as devil fruits. The user should have drowned or at the very least been unable to swim. But Luffy didn't swim. He crawled.

Despite all odds.

His lungs burned from each breath. The pain was unbearable, splintering his skin and burning his eyes. For a few moments Luffy actually believed he was going to die. It was nothing like when his grandpa left in the jungle, or threw him off a cliff. The water had sapped away all of his strength.

But it was also liberating. Lying on the cold, wet sand Luffy could do nothing but think. Something he didn't do that often. In fact he didn't think period. But alas with his muscles burning from exertion and his tongue gagging from the side of his mouth that was all Luffy could do.

He thought about what his dream was, when he was going to meet Shanks. But most of all he thought about whether he should even be Ace's friend.

The bastard had nearly killed him. Luffy tried to put Shanks words back into his mind but everything faltered against the cold, hard logic. This wasn't like the time those mountain bandits had poured drinks on him. Ace had actually tried to kill him. And there wasn't a doubt that he would have succeeded if Luffy wasn't made out of rubber. Even so there was no doubt that some of his bones were broken.

Luffy tried to move his fingers. His muscles spasmed from the movement. His breath hitched from the effort.

And it felt horrible. Never before had he felt so pathetic in his life. In fact Luffy felt helpless. He felt weak. But most of all … he felt alone.

Luffy's breath hitched again, his heart running a mile a minute. He had to get out of here. Leave the river bed unless he wanted to get eaten by the predators. Slowly, Luffy lifted his upper body from the ground. His muscles screamed from the effort, just like they did many times before. For a moment his body held steady.

I didn't get a chance to laminate my victory. It was too much, too hard. Giving up my body thumped to the sand bank below. It was useless.

There was no hope. It was virtually impossible for him to sit up let alone walk back to Dadan's house. He would have laughed at the situation he was in and how he was thinking if he wasn't in too much pain.

_Grow up fast or die._

That was the one stray thought hat entered his head. He needed to smarten up. He needed to be tougher. Stronger even. Luffy promised himself that he would get stronger. What kind of pirate king would he be if the Great Luffy was defeated by a some rapids. Would have the 'training" been for nothing.

No it hadn't. Against all odds he was going to get out of here. But first he had to stand up. He turned over. One palm at a time Luffy crawled away from the river bank.

_Crawl before you can walk. Walk before you can run._

Crawl. His muscles screamed in pain, in protest. But he wasn't going to give up. He was going to be Pirate King.

That was a promise.

Step by step, palm by palm, Luffy slowly managed to stand up. He was doing this. However just as he had finally gotten used to walking Luffy's body finally gave in and collapsed. Using his arms Luffy managed to grab onto the some of the branches on a tree, holding himself up. Panting from exhaustion Luffy finally gave in. There was no way he could get out of this valley in one day.

It would be a better idea to simply find a good place to sleep. And so Luffy started looking for a decent shelter. He couldn't sleep on the branches of the trees… and the rivers wasn't a good idea.

Nevertheless as the night passed Luffy finally found some shelter. However one thought dug himself into his mind. It would be this thought that would affect him for the rest of his life

_I'm going to kill all them. Ace, Dadan and those bandits. One day I'll kill all of them_

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys. I'm the Poarter. If you guys could just leave a review, that would be nice. Anyways this story idea lodged itself into my mind after I started reading Chapter 583 and what would have happened if the stuff went to the most logical extreme. I'm talking about realism here.**

**The idea of my story came from "Rogue Trader" of Warhammer 40k. Basically Luffy's going to grow up to be a combination of the Merchant Prince and the Trade Militant.**

**Anyways I'm more than willing to take criticism and helpful advice so long as its that. Critism. I hope you enjoy this story and have a wonderful day.**


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